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Back to Square One - Food and Wine

Publish Date: Jul 16, 2009

We all know that it’s important to be versatile, and Chef Joyce Goldstein’s career speaks to just that. When it comes to food she has cooked with some of the best (as Chef at legendary Chez Panisse), to owning restaurants (SQUARE ONE in San Francisco, which she ran for 12 years), founding culinary schools (California Street Cooking School), designing kitchens (at the University of California in the Department of Architecture) and writing cookbooks (over 20 of them).

Even her cuisine is versatile. After growing up in Brooklyn, Goldstein moved to Italy in the late 1950s where she fell in love with the country, food and (of course) its wine. There, on the coast of the Mediterranean, Goldstein found her culinary destiny and has become an expert in the cuisine of any country that touches that body of water. Her menu at SQUARE ONE brought together cuisines from Italy, Spain, France, Greece, Turkey, the Middle East and North Africa, and her cookbooks have done the same. The most recent release, Tapas: Sensational Small Plates from Spain, teaches the art of preparing those perfect little plates.

And when it comes to wines, Goldstein understands the importance of a wonderful match. Although she says she has too many pairing loves to count, she recalls one particularly incredible meal: A ’96 Marcarini Brunate Barolo with roast veal, chicken rollata, and fried porcini mushrooms. We only wish we’d gotten a seat at the table for that meal!

As for her favorite type of vino, Goldstein is a sucker for a great red Burgundy, but a good Pinot from around the globe will make her happy any day of the week.

To grab a copy of Perfect Pairings, written by this pal of Panisse with a penchant for Pinot and her sommelier son, click here.